520 W. Idaho Street (406)531-0401
Boise, ID 83702 www.smrdevelopment.com
April 16, 2024
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY
Jeffrey Tsumura
Project Planner
City of Mountain View
500 Castro Street, P.O. Box 7540
Mountain View, CA 94039-7540
E-mail: [email protected]
Re: Community/ P ublic Benefit Proposal
Respo
nse to Planning Divisions Comment #11
334 San Antonio Road Apartments
1648-002- Affordable Multifamily Housing
Dear Je
ffrey Tsumura,
Please
accept this letter as additional explanation and narrative regarding the proposed project’s community/public benefit proposal. Per your comment in your letter “Planned Community Permit and Development Review Permit” dated February 9, 2024 (Compliance Letter), the project is required to submit a Community Public Benefit proposal that specifies the proposed public benefits proportional to the increase in development intensity above the 1.35 base FAR as well as building height above 3 stories and 45 feet per SAPP Table 4-3 and City Resolution No. 17925.
Plea
se see the Density Bonus letter for additional explanation as to why the project, using the waivers pursuant to State Density Bonus Law also waive the associated Public Benefit Program requirements.
For addit
ional information if the proposed project were subject to the Public Benefit Program the proposed Project’s higher development intensity is for the express purpose of facilitating the public benefit of providing a 100% affordable housing development. (Compliance Letter, at pp. 3-4.) This purpose is significant because the Public Benefits Program provides a process for developers to “provide public benefits, with incremental value proportional to the proposed development intensity (e.g. building square footage) above Base FAR.” (SAPP, at p. 101.) Here, the development intensity above Base FAR is proposed for the explicit purpose of providing the public benefit, such that requiring additional public benefits would be contrary to the stated mechanism by which the Program operates.
As you
are aware, the proposed 334 San Antonio Road Apartments is a 100% affordable project restricted to households at or below 80% AMI, except for one property manager’s unit. All the amenities are associated with the affordable housing units. The affordability of the Attachment 5
520 W. Idaho Street (406)531-0401
Boise, ID 83702 www.smrdevelopment.com
development will be memorialized and enforced in a variety of ways including a forthcoming Density Bonus Affordability Restriction Agreement with the Neighborhoods and Housing Division as well as through various covenants and deed restrictions required by our lenders and investors prior to the start of construction.
Per the San Antionio Precise Plan, Table 5-1, affordable housing is the foremost prioritized public benefit. Given the entire project is affordable housing, the development, as such, is the public benefit proposed to be built in exchange for the higher development intensity which the State Density Bonus law allows per the attached Density Bonus Letter. Although the Public Benefits Program does not apply to the proposed project it is important to note the proposed project is the public benefit and is valued at approximately $640 per s.f. This is well over the current fee in the SAPP of $26.88 per net new square foot.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this summary of the project’s community benefit proposal. We hope this narrative, coupled with the Density Bonus Letter, adequately addresses the Planning Department’s comment #11. In the event you have further questions please let us know.
We appreciate your time to date in the review of our application and look forward to working together to bring this much needed affordable housing development to Mountain View.
Sincerely,
Shellan Rodriguez
Project Manager, CRP Consultant